"With or Without You?"

"With or Without You" 

U2

2 Cellos

 Today's advent devotional was about Noah. 

& 

How He found favor with the Lord.

As I was thinking this morning.. I heard this version of "With or Without You" by U2 playing softly in the background. I love this song! It reminds me of highschool and my first concert. It took me a few minutes to recognize the song at first.. but when I did the lyrics came flooding into my mind.. and I was reminded of the many times that I feel like I'm with or without God. You know those on and off moments with God. I bet Noah felt the same way during the building of the ark. I bet some days he was good and others.. he was like.. I dont even know what rain is?? 

Noah was called to build an ark that would save him and his family from the storm that was coming. 

This reminded me of a time when I felt like the Lord asked me to do the same. We were trying to heal as a family but everyone did it in a different way.

I felt like the Lord said,

  "Julie, build an ark to save yourself and your family." 

The ark was my heart. My heart was needing to be rebuilt and if I allowed Jesus in to help me rebuild it would someday become a safe place for me and others to find comfort and shelter. I obeyed the call but it wasn't easy when the storms kept coming. During the process of the rebuild I felt like the lyrics that go to the song above.. "I can't live with or without you."Somedays I was good living with Jesus close.. and some days I wasn't. It was a back and forth rhythm for a long time. I realize now that is just the growth process.. It was me learning to trust Jesus more and more with the rebuilding of my heart. There were many places that didn't trust Him.. so sometimes my broken heart took the lead and turned turn away from Him. I would experience the rebuild in my own strength and it would leave me weary and weak. This was not such a bad place because it was here that I learned to embrace my weakness, turn back to Jesus and fall into His arms. I would say.. I just cant do this on my own.. I need you.. I need something more than a natural view.. I need a supernatural view point of this earthy problem. He was always faithful to step back in with His strength. Again, the lyrics to the song above are so perfect.

 One verse says,

 "I can't live with or without you"

and the next verse says.. 

"And you give yourself away.. and you give..and you give.. and you give yourself away." 

The first verse reveals my humanity. It's hard to live in between two worlds. The one here where we are called to trust and know and understand without seeing. Some days we're good and some days we just don't want to tarry any longer.. I believe the Lord understands that we feel this way.. and He too longs for the day when we don't have to live "in between". I believe in all our turning back and forth He is always there.. giving Himself away to us .. giving and giving Himself away. He is the gift. He is always giving Himself away for us.. so rest today knowing.. its ok... He's with you.. even if you feel without Him:) 

So the lesson we learn from Noah is this..

with a mustard seed of faith we move close to Jesus

and work with Him 

by doing this we draw an invisible line in between us and evil

This is how we live in between both worlds..

the result

We become close friends with God

and we realize we can't live without Him:)

By faith, Noah built a ship in the middle of dry land. He was warned about something he couldn't see, and acted on what he was told. The result? His family was saved. His act of faith drew a sharp line between the evil of the unbelieving world and the rightness of the believing world. 

As a result, Noah became intimate with God. 

Hebrews 11:7